Chapter 9 : Siren Calls

Ayda's POV

"You should have told someone or brought one of the guardsmen with you. Maybe even both! What in the Moon Goddess's name were you thinking!? Were you all even thinking at all?"

I did not appreciate being talked down to like a child.

Nicolette, me, and the rest of our group were in the third foyer, which doubled as Mr. Galanis' private office, getting a dressing down by His Highness himself. We were all seated on a bench specifically for this purpose; heads bowed as the prince lambasted us.

He was more worried than actually mad, as experience had shown me. He had a habit of wringing his wrists or fiddling with his cufflinks when he was concerned about one's safety.

It was the only reason why I kept my annoyance to myself.

"The Withering Fang is safe, Your Highness," Liv said from the end of the bench, holding a cold washcloth over her eyes. Her abrupt descent into sobriety, thanks to Prince Sebastian's inquisition, had caused her to get a migraine. "I've been there with my kinsmen many a time before tonight."

"Did you know that the guardsmen in the South Tower were all murdered tonight?"

"That," Liv removed the washcloth from her eyes. "That I did not know, Your Highness."

"Nor would you, as I am currently trying not to cause the lands to panic come the morrow. We got the news from the sole survivor, perhaps no more than ten minutes after you embarked on this ill-begotten trip. The assailant was a woman, at least a head taller than the average gal, and she wore a garb of indigo."

The woman at the pub, the one that looked like Zoe. I looked forward, hoping my face didn't betray my whirling thoughts. So she had been real.

"Had you alerted Mr. Galanis of your–" his nostrils flared. Ah, now that was a sign of genuine irritation. "Your barhopping, we may have sent the guard to escort you home or at least meet you there. Well, what do you lot have to say for yourself?"

"We're sorry, Your Highness," Nicolette threaded her fingers together, looking miserable. "It was my fault. I just wanted a night to get away."

"Then please, Nicolette, and that goes for all of you," he focused on me, amber eyes full of some emotion I couldn't name. "Tell Mr. Galanis or guardsmen where you go, should you leave the grounds. It's for the safety of everyone here. Suppose the assailant caught a ride on the top of your carriage and killed my father the next day. What then?"

Well, when he put it like that....

"We're sorry; it won't happen again," we all chorused.

"As it shouldn't. Now, everyone is dismissed, everyone except—" He tugged on my shirt sleeve, halting my egress. "Miss Sabine here."

Oh, great. It was only until the door shut with the foreboding click of a latch that Prince Sebastian let me go.

"I assume you wish to talk about what happened last week," I knew it had been circling my mind ceaselessly, a constant loop of the almost kiss replaying in both my waking and dreaming mind.

Prince Sebastian stiffened, only showing me his profile when he talked like he couldn't bear to fully engage with me.

"Do you know how worried I was about you?" He started mildly enough, pacing himself.

"I've been taking care of myself for a long time, Your Highness." I could tell this could end in a bout of unkind words if I wasn't careful. The Prince narrowed his eyes at me, crossing his arms, but he still wouldn't turn his head. His hair was slicked back again, giving me an unobscured look at his neck.

There weren't any lipstick stains like I'd imagined at the party. So he was faithful to his vows then. That shouldn't have made me fall for him even more.

"My safety shouldn't be your concern, though I appreciate the sentiment."

"'Appreciate the sentiment'?" He turned then, eyes glowing as he kept his composure. "Shouldn't be my concern? Did you not hear me earlier? There is a killer on the loose!"

"I heard you well enough, Sir." I was being borderline disrespectful, I knew, by not saying his title. But I was beyond his strange need to impose himself upon my life. As if he could dictate how I should live it!

Perhaps, the callousness was a ruse to kill what little crush I had on him. It was doomed to die, so why not hasten its demise? "And I will take the necessary precautions should I need to leave the castle."

"Good, that's all I ask. Then I shall accompany you on your errands from now on."

"But—"

"Now, now, Miss Sabine. Need I remind you that we've already agreed upon the terms of your safety detail if you wish to leave the castle?"

"And need I remind you that you have a wife?"

He reared as if I'd struck him.

"That's not what this is about!" His voice was rising, with twin spots of red on his cheekbones. What was he mortified about? The brusqueness of my rebuttal or his eagerness to be by my side?

The great barrel of his chest rose and fell against his formal black double-breasted frock coat with silk-faced lapels in aubergine. The royal purple matched Narcissa's backless gown making them a perfect pair to further outshine whatever we were trying to be. "Stop twisting my words, making something out of nothing!"

"So you weren't going to kiss me?" There was no point in lying about it, and it stung my pride to think my advances too easily dismissed. That made me feel more like a child than the dressing down had.

"I, that's not—" He threw his hands up, turning on his heel. "—Nevermind. If you reject my company and those of the guard, so be it. Just stay put in the castle after hours from now on. That's an order, Sabine!"

"Like Tartarus it is!" I screamed back. "You cannot keep me chained to you like some common dog! Constantly at the beck and call of your ever-changing whims! I have a life outside of you. I have needs!"

"Oh, I've seen your needs firsthand, Sabine. Tell me, did the men of the pub enjoy your presence as much as I have?"

I slapped him hard enough to turn his head. Prince Sebastian gingerly touched his cheek, a red print already welling up.

"You are a loathsome beast," I hissed, brushing past him with my shoulder. Done with him for the night. I wasn't going to just let him insult my integrity like that! "Deplorable!"

"You're one to talk! Using your feminine wiles on me while you write to other men about how much you desire them!"

I turned around at that: "What?"

If Liv was spreading rumors again with the other kitchen staff....

Sebastian looked at me smugly like he'd found a chink in my armor to twist the knife in.

"The letters. I apprehended one this very morning, on its way to your lover, I suspect. I recognized your penmanship from your invoices."

"I am writing those letters on Nicolette's behalf, you tactless cretin! She's got a secret admirer, and you know how much of a wallflower the girl is!"

"That's—" I could see his self-righteous ego deflate before my eyes. "Miss Ayda I—"

"I don't know what you desire of me, Prince Sebastian, but it ends now between us." Hurt sparked again, in those amber eyes. This wasn't the outcome Prince Sebastian had expected, which vexed and confused me further.

"Very well," he swallowed, moving around me to exit the room. He was careful not to touch my person. He looked as if he wanted to say more but chose against it. That was wise of him. Finally, he seemed to be making the right calls. "Have a good night, Ayda."

And we parted ways.

He to the siren calls of the party and me to the servant's wing.

***

"Maud," I didn't wish to disturb the scene before me, but after the chaos of tonight, all I wanted to do was climb into bed and sleep a dreamless sleep. "Maud, please wake up."

"Oh, my," the plump older woman came to with a snort, stretching her arms above her head before she looked at me. She sat in a rocking chair that she must have carried in from her room at the end of the hall.

Little spectacles were perched on her blunt nose, a children's storybook resting on her knees. August was asleep in his bassinet, a blanket tucked around him from a loving hand. "Hello, dear. You look awful tonight. Was the night on the town not to your liking?"

"No, it was fine," I took off my shawl, searching around in my dresser for my nightgown. "Lovely even. It's just… never mind. I feel like all I do is complain these days. Let's focus on something happy for once. How did August fair tonight? I know it was your day off, and I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to watch him."

"Oh, think nothing of it, dear. You saved me a night of listening to Janos sawing wood. August is a lovely baby, so it's no trouble at all to watch him. I love children; it's why I had five, after all!"

We laughed, thinking about how all her children worked at the castle, doing various tasks.

"True; still, a thanks is necessary. I wouldn't be able to do my job even if not for you. So, thank you."

"If you want to thank me, continue to let me watch him! He's such an easy boy, and he reminds me of happier times. Like when I was the nursery maid for the two princes."

"You were the nursemaid for Sebastian and Alex?"

"Oh, I was like a second mother to those boys!" Her eyes went distant, reminiscing. "They were so sweet. Sebastian was the shy one of the two, though you wouldn't know that now. He always hid behind his brother, who had no issues being the center of attention. But despite his shyness, Sebastian was generous, open-minded—"

"You don't say?" I said bitterly, remembering our words tonight. I think Maud's memory was a little hazy; there was no way the boy she was describing became the Sebastian of today.

"Well, he wasn't always so temperamental, even if he was always sensitive. No, that came after his mother had died. She was a soldier's daughter from a lesser pack. No princesses were of age at the time, and the marriage caused quite a bit of controversy.

High Alpha Kostas claimed that their whirlwind romance was based on love at first sight. But His Majesty had always had…darker inclinations than either of his sons. When Luna Arianna was pregnant with Prince Sebastian, she delivered in seven months instead of nine, which around that time would have been right around Bacchanalia."

"You're not saying—"

"Of course not, Ms. Sabine. Only it is no secret how men and women are often found in the worst ways after such festivities. And you are all too aware of how a woman is treated should she not desire to marry her children's sire."

The thought sickened me, but I understood. As a soldier's daughter, she would have even been less equipped to deal with exile than I was. At least I had managed to squirrel away my jewelry to sell to keep afloat for the first three months. What did a soldier's daughter have to fence?

"What happened to her, Maud? No one at the castle speaks of Luna Arianna. Not her mate, not her son—no one."

"Probably because it's just too tragic for words. Luna Arianna tried to make the most of her situation. She did try so hard to love the man that she was married to, but High Alpha Kostas hardly cared for her. She was more of a means of pleasure, sometimes entertainment if he could scare her enough," she said.

"He'd lost his true mate years ago to Sleeping Sickness. Alex's mother, Luna Alexandra. Some believe he has a form of stress disorder from it or a form of latent madness. Gods know his father was just as…inflammatory; it could be hereditary."

She continued, "All I know is that once Luna Alexandra died, he stopped caring about this kingdom and began selfishly putting his needs above everyone else's. Second to himself was his son Alex, the only other being the High alpha Kostas cared about. The better toys went to Alex; the tutors went to Alex; the best cuts of steak went to Alex. And Sebastian faded into the background with his forgotten mother."

"That's terrible! Why keep Sebastian if he was going to ignore him for the rest of his life?"

"Because Sebastian was deemed the 'spare' for a reason. Should anything happen to his brother, he was to take up the mantle. He was only relevant as an 'in case of emergency,' and High Alpha Kostas' treated him as such."

With a sigh, she went on. "Luna Arianna, however, did not share her husband's frozen heart. Prince Alex yearned for a mother, and though I was a major source of comfort for the lad, I knew that my love could only reach him so far. I was still just a woman under the thumb of his father via my employment here.

"High Alpha Kostas often told the boys that if he weren't paying me, I wouldn't care for them nearly as much, though it wasn't true. That's why Luna Arianna was such a blessing. She taught them kindness and caring, empathy and respect, a love of nature and creation, and to always learn no matter the subject.

"And then one day, my lady finds out she's pregnant, this time a daughter. She's excited about the new addition. She rushes to tell the father. And do you know what the King says?'

"That only boys are acceptable?"

"That she's just given him the greatest bargaining chip in the world–his own daughter. Luna Arianna stopped updating him on the progress of her condition after that. Though I wish she confided in me, had she told me, I would have warned her of the signs."

"She died in childbirth, didn't she?"

"There was so much blood… The princes were so young. Alex was nine; he understood what was happening to his stepmother. But poor Sebastian…the lad was barely even school age before he lost her.

"I tried to be there for both of them the way she was. I tried to grow them in a stable environment, but there's only so much one can do for trauma at a young age. Sebastian locked up his heart to protect himself and Alex…Alex kept trying to find women who didn't need him as much as he needed them, just in case they left him like his mother.

"He reasoned that it would hurt less. I know Sebastian is being difficult with you, but please have patience for him. He speaks so highly of you to me—I think you would be good friends if you both talked more."

"I'll…I'll think on it," I said, knowing his history didn't excuse his behavior, but it did make me understand it. The simultaneous pushing and pulling away from me. He was scared of getting too close to me for fear I'd hurt him, betray him, indulge in his nightmares, and make them a reality. I thought of Narcissa, and hatred for her welled in my chest.

"Thinking is all I can think to ask," she stood up, marching to the door, and I followed her. "Thank you for letting an old woman prattle on."

"It's no problem at all; I asked," I said, hanging onto the door handle. "Consider it a bit of payback for all those times you had to watch August."

"Oh no, I truly don't mind! You know, if I didn't know any better, I could almost think August could've been related to them in some way. He has eyes like Sebastian and Alex, if you can believe it. That Lykaios gold."

"What a coincidence…"

I… I hadn't noticed, but she was right. August did have eyes similar to the prince's and his father's, and I assumed his brother's as well.

We said our goodnights, and I closed the door, slipping on my pajamas, ready for bed.

I dreamed of familiar gold eyes again that night, but whose they were, the Prince's or the stranger's, I couldn't say.